Steel players gain as Cabinet approves National Steel Policy

NEW DELHI: Shares of select metal players were trading higher in early trade on Thursday after the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval to the National Steel Policy 2017.

JSW Steel was trading 1.66 per cent higher at Rs 196.50 around 9.25 am (IST). It was followed by Jindal Steel (up 1.61 per cent), SAIL (up 1.47 per cent) and Tata Steel (up 0.94 per cent). The BSE Metal index was up 0.15 per cent at 11,219 at around the same time.

The Cabinet also approved a policy for use of domestic steel products in government organisations.

The policy projects crude steel capacity of 300 million tonne, production of 255 million tonne and robust finished steel per capita consumption of 158 kg by 2030-31, as against the current use of 61 kg.

“The policy also envisages domestically meeting the entire demand of high-grade automotive steel, electrical steel, special steels and alloys for strategic applications and increasing domestic availability of washed coking coal so as to reduce import dependence on coking coal from about 85 per cent to around 65 per cent by 2030-31," the statement said. Shares of Coal India was trading around 0.50 per cent higher at around the same time.

Domestic steel sector has grown over the past few years to be the third largest producer of steel globally, contributing to about 2 per cent of the country's GDP and employing about 5 lakh people directly and about 20 lakh people indirectly.

Currently, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied at 12 per cent on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale.